SHEEP WITHOUT TAILS?
QUR’BAANI IS NOT VALID
The mas’alah pertaining to the prohibition of offering tailless sheep for Qur’baani is as old as Islam. The attempts to scuttle this prohibition is motivated by only one factor, and that is, the preference for consuming sheep mutton. It is not really an issue of the unavailibility of animals with tails.
The argument for permissibility is flapdoodle and lacking in Shar’i daleel. Allah Ta’ala, The Creator, has created sheep with tails – tails which serve the intended Divine purpose regardless of what the modernist animal experts and farmers say.
The people in Natal and Gauteng are addicted to only sheep mutton, hence their aversion for making Qur’baani of goats which are available with full tails. In fact, farmers are increasingly catering for Qur’baani needs with full-tailed sheep. It is essential to understand that if the intention for slaughtering the animals is only to consume the meat, then the Qur’baani will not be valid.
Those who are making Qur’baani, in the vast majority of cases, can afford to buy meat for consumption. They should not endeavor to kill two birds with one stone at the cost of rendering their Qur’baani ibaadat invalid. For eating sheep mutton, they may slaughter sheep without tails. But, for Qur’baani, only sheep with tails are valid.
Assuming that sheep without tails are not available, then Qur’baani of goats should be made. And if goat mutton is unpalatable, distribute the whole carcass to others who will enjoy it. After all, this Ibaadat is a Qur’baani (a sacrifice). It should therefore not be too great a sacrifice to distribute all of the goat meat to the poor in case goat mutton is unpalatable to you. But do not trifle with Ibaadat.
9 Zil Hajj 1438 – 21 August 2018